What a dilemma it is, Sony’s PlayStation 3 isn’t as hot as the Nintendo Wii in Japan. Even the Xbox 360 has had some minor success stories in Japan while Sony sits back saying “wtf?”
President, SCE Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida is pointing the finger at the publishers saying, “Whatโs happening is that lack of support from the Japanese publishers – not necessarily from intentions but from development capabilities.” (kotaku) Why, though, would publishers push to produce games on the console that’s currently losing market share?
Sony’s position is very tough to deal with because they’re not market leader so publishers are looking for the biggest bang for their proverbial “buck” and that’s not the PS3 right now. You can produce an expensive game for an expensive console or a cheaper game for a cheaper console and make more money.
How, then, can Sony get out of this situation? They must find a way to promote an incentive for publishers to create Sony exclusives or, at least, a Sony “port” of a game to build up their library of must-have titles. Perhaps Sony’s punishment at the hands of Nintendo and Microsoft in the States has a bit to do with their global marketplace issues — they need to put a concerted effort into one of their regions and champion themselves in one realm before trying for all of them. Right now, they’re a watered down expensive console with very few exclusive titles.
Metal Gear Sold 4, Home and Little Big Planet are great reasons to own a PlayStation 3 if the price was a bit more reasonable. Looking at the future, we’ve got Resistance 2 and a few other titles that may make some waves in the industry, at least in the United States, but it’s going to be an uphill battle in which they are the second best this time.
It’s always easy when you’re on the top. PlayStation 3 is not on the top so it’s time to start struggling, cutting prices or enticing publishers to build good exclusive titles.
@Duke Nukem Forever review fiasco:
This one is almost ‘no comment’. The nasty side is what Jordan said (except foe Jonah I can’t yet distinguish your voices, sorry if I mix you up): they don’t mind blacklisting, they just don’t want it to be public.
@ Apple will be the games industry in 10 years:
You can even devise a control scheme for touch based interfaces, but!
Just like console controllers, a mouse and keyboard using player will best one using a console controller, in competitive gaming.
Jonah, I’m with you on the real books vs. kindle. Don’t get me wrong guys, that’s a device that I like, but it doesn’t hold a kandle ๐ to a real book.
@ No need for PS4, PS3 now hitting its stride:
Erm, hello, PS3 is hacked? Piracy will be as rampant on PS3 as is on PC? PS3 might become a very unattractive platform to develop for? (hard to code for it and with it’s DRM system exposed for all to pirate your product).
๐ Jonah, thanks for pointing out misspellings, it’s useful to me.
@Question of the Week:
I do care what it says in the review. I do want to read if a certain aspect is flawed: perhaps it is a feature that interests me, and in that case I’ll skip the game.
As for the score versus the entire contents, well, it actually depends on the value of the score.
If it’s below 5, then I don’t even bother to read the review. The score weights 100%.
If it’s up until 7, the score weights 50%. Above 7, it’s really up to the contents of the review, not the score: weight drops to almost 0%.
Just to let you know that things in Australia aren’t that bad. If one looks around abit you can get a good deal on games even if they are brand new. Granted prices have been $110 for some games but with some skill you can get it imported from the UK with shipping for nearly half the price. I havn’t brought a game from a major Australian retailer for some time now. Feel sorry for those who do ouch.